James River, VA Area Boating

D

dahkota

New member
Good Evening all!

Choir Practice, after spending a long week in the Florida Keys, is now sitting on the hard in Virginia (right outside Surry). Unfortunately, its going to be a beautiful weekend here and we have no boat! But, we do have plans for a couple of weekends in April and May, weather permitting, to take her out and see what we can find down Virginia way.

We are looking at the weekends of April 9-11, April 23-25, May 14-16, and May 26-28 to travel around the area. I know there are some c-brats down there with much better knowledge than maps can provide so I was hoping someone could offer advice on the following:

How far up the James is it possible to travel? Is Richmond a possibility? Is it worth it?

Is the Dismal Swamp Canal a good weekend trip?

What are 'not to miss' areas of the southern Chesapeake?

Any help you all can provide would be appreciated. And if anyone will be out those weekends and wants to meet up, it would be a pleasure.

all the best,
dahkota
Choir Practice
 
In the late 60's I lived on the James River, just South of Richmond (courtesy of Uncle Sam). We boated on the James, up to a dam which was inside of the City limits. Currently Rocketts Marina is close to the head of navigation of the James, and in Richmond. It would be a geat trip up there. Historic Jamestown is another great trip.

Check out "Active Captain" for Marinas, as well as places to go.
I really enjoyed my two years boating on the Chesapeake. I sailed mostly out of Delta Ville and Fishing Bay YC, but also have spent several months at Waterside IN Norfolk. There are literally hundreds of cruises you can take. I liked the Eastern Shore, including Tangier and Smith Islands. A great destination is St. Michaels. It can take a life time to explore all of the waterways. We had a 16 foot open runabout, but also had the use of 30 to 40 foot sailboats.

On the other end is Baltimore and Annapolis. One of the beauties of the C Dory line, is that you can trailer to an area and then start your cruise there.

It might be a fun trip to do the Dismal Swamp and then loop back through Great Bridge. There are also several good cruising guides to the Chesapeake. The Waterway guide is one. I have "Chesapeake Bay Magazine's Guide to Cruising the Chesapeake Bay"--which is a good planing guide.
 
Couple of ideas for you.

Head up the Nansemond to downtown Suffolk and tie up at Constants Wharf at the Hilton Garden Inn, walk to downtown and explore, it is historic with Riddicks Folly and some museums.

The dismal swamp canal is fun too. (see pics on under my profile) I put in at the boat ramp down near the Lake Drummond Cut so I don't have to deal with the locks and bridges. Go south to the NC welcome center that has a dock and welcomes boaters.

Deep Creek is fun by some people's standards, I don't particularly like it.

The Pagan River up to Smithfield is very nice. Stop at Smithfield station for lunch and enjoy their downtown, very quaint and wonderful.

Hampton City docks are nice with lot of shopping and museums.

Cruise the length of the Ches Bay Bridge Tunnel to the eastern shore and stop in Cape Charles or just venture straight accross the bay from Hampton Roads to Cape Charles it is fun and there is neat stuff in Cape Charles, food, shops, museum etc.

Waterside in downtown Norfolk or the ferry landings in Portsmouth both have lot to see as well.

Happy to help with more info on my stomping grounds if you want.
 
I did the Dismal Swamp loop just after hurricane Isabel a few years back. A very nice trip. Overnighted in Elizabeth City (lower end of DS Canal) crossed the Albemarle Sound and up the other canal. Overnighted at Jockey's Ridge Marina (where Rt 17 crosses the canal) and then back up to Portsmouth.

A very nice trip. Some pix in my album.

Charlie
 
Last weekend we put Choir Practice in at Jordan Point Marina. This was our second time on a ramp and it went quite well. The cruise up the James to Richmond was nice - its very quiet up that way until you get about a mile from the top. We ran into some rowing races and had to go slow enough that, once the race started, the 4 man rowing teams easily passed us! But it was fun to watch. Richmond doesn't seem to be very boat friendly - I'm used to the towns around here that have docks and piers to stop and visit. We ended up over-nighting in the Dutch Gap conservation area. They had three floating docks and no people. One was convenient to a jiffy john, so we stayed near that one. :) The area is beautiful, just watch out for the bugs!

The next morning we went about as far as we could up the Appomattox. Beautiful but short trip. Birds every where and very quiet.

Next week we will have two nights. We were thinking of going up the York River and checking out the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey Rivers. Has anyone been up that way? They look navigable on the charts but I'm not sure there is much of interest.

We are going to skip the Dismal Swamp for now and catch it on our great loop trip in a couple of years. Or May, depending on the bugs...

Another thought, as suggested, was to head over to the eastern shore by way of the bridge-tunnel. It may be a go depending on the weather...

Thank you for all your suggestions and help! I love this site and the advice of c-brats is invaluable!
 
Been around the Mattaponi and Pamunkey a lot, mostly by car. They are pretty wild and have no facilities. I think even West Point where the rivers converge into the York has no marina. It does have a nice state maintained ramp. It also has a large, stinky paper mill, an eyesore on the shore, but interesting to watch the equipment moving piles of 30-40 ft logs like so many pick-up sticks.

Also, check out Yorktown's Riverwalk Landing - lots of touristy shops and watering holes.

Have you seen Chesapeake Bay Magazine's
Guide to Cruising the Chesapeake Bay? We've found it very useful for cruise planning.

We'll look for you on the lower Bay.
 
You can safely navigate to the Interstate 95 bridge in Richmond. Most don't go past the 'big rock". You can't miss it. East of Jordan Point takes you to Jamestown. A nice trip is from there is on the Chickahominy River.
There is a full service Marina with store, transient slips, pump out, hotel, and pool; called Rivers Rest. The restaurant there is excellent. http://www.riversrest.com/
Further down the James you will go by what's left of the US Navy mothball fleet and into Hampton Roads. From there is the Chesapeake Bay or the ICW. Portsmouth and Norfolk's Waterside are nice ( but not as nice as they were 25 years ago).
 
Thanks for the information!

The weekend of the 19-21 we got lazy and so dropped the boat in at Jordan Point again. We cruised south to the Pagan River and ended up lunching it just past the bridge at the marina. Beautiful spot. We ran across the James and checked out Deep Creek. Lots of boats but nowhere that seemed out of the way enough to anchor, considering a storm was supposed to be blowing in. We went back to the Pagan and anchored at a wide spot. Luckily I had my tide info - we knew we were going to lose 3 feet during the night. At minimum during the lowest tide we were in 1' of water (I love c-dories!). We were rocked by early morning fishermen in the morning, but it was a pleasant bugless stormless night.

Saturday Morning we headed up Chickahominy River. I highly recommend the trip for anyone who will be passing through the area - probably one of the most beautiful places I have seen so far, though I admit to not having seen many. We went all the way to the dam then returned down river. We anchored in Yarmouth Creek, which was beautiful and bugless.

Sunday morning we returned to Jordan Point with intermittent rough rides and smooth calms. Nothing like the chop we see on the bay but it was fun to get into some rougher water again. We did learn something new: some bait line bouy strings are 3 bouys long rather than the two we see on the bay. One can't assume one is going around the line by figuring out the partner bouys. Not a pleasant experience, but a learning one. (Note to fishermen - if you are stringing out dozens of lines across boating paths/channels without rhyme or reason, color code them or something.)

The coming weekend we will be dropping the boat in the York River and going upstream, hopefully to see the Pamunkey and Mattiponi. With what seems to be no available services, I think our trip will have to be better planned than usual.

Thanks again for all the input - you all are such a help with getting good information!
 
Back
Top